Very cool! Appreciated the lack of music too

The videos of him riding some crappy old bike or crazy contraption are brilliant, he’s a lunatic.

Some kind of body armour sponsor would probably be good for when he inevitably takes a stem to the chest!

Awesome!

If you haven’t heard of it go search on youtube for bracketing.

Don’t worry if it takes a while to get it feeling right, it normally takes me many weeks and lots of fiddling. The added bonus is that once you start to get an understanding of how it all works you can tweak it a little depending on what type of trail you happen to be riding that day.

Quite a few people have said weight back and don’t use the front brake for the worst advice. I’ve been pondering how this advice became so prevalent. The best I can come up with is weight back is from the time when bikes were shorter and head angles steeper so an OTB was more likely. Not using the front brake I’d guess is from bad experiences as children.

I think it just highlights the difference between online and real life. Out in the real world if you cross the line there’s a real chance things will descend into violence which tends to keep people civil the majority of the time. Online there are no consequences.

The birds aren’t real conspiracy theory springs to mind, it wasn’t even remotely persuasive but a lot of people bought into it for quite a long time.

More seriously it seems like we’re starting to approach a point where we wont be able to trust a single thing online. If AI voice and video generation continue improving at their current rate I think it’s only going to be a few years before anyone can create videos of famous people doing or saying anything they want that will be indistinguishable from reality.

I think a lot of it comes down to your personality and mentality. I know that if was to miraculously start making twice as much as I do right now my first thought be, awesome I can work half as many hours.

Thanks for the replies everyone, there’s some good stuff that’s been mentioned. The video in particular was very good.
Funnily enough an example I was going to give has already been mentioned, the slab thing at Laggan.
I rode there for the first time last year. I rode pretty much everything but when it came to the slab I was shitting my pants and couldn’t work out why. I’ve ridden similar things before so it wasn’t a lack of experience, I’d been riding well all day so confidence was high but for whatever reason that particular day you couldn’t have paid me to ride it. Failing to do something I know I’m capable of annoyed me so much I went back a couple of months later specifically to do it. 2nd time round I just did it with no problems.
Improving and progressing at things I enjoy is very important to me but after reading the replies I think I’m perhaps too focused on that side of things. I’ll endeavour to chill out a bit in future!

No experience with the 26 so this probably isn’t particularly helpful but my 30’s have taken an absolute beating and are still completely fine.

It’s interesting you brought up rock climbing. Before riding I was massively into it, I think there’s a lot of parallels between the two when it comes to the mental side of things.

This is something I also find hard to put into words. The best I can manage is, the only time I feel truly alive is doing something with a risk of serious injury or death.

Personally I wouldn’t overthink it and just buy whichever bike you think looks coolest.

Be brutally honest with yourself
Identify your biggest weakness
Train it until it becomes a strength
repeat again and again

I thought the video was decent. Two mates having fun in epic surroundings.

From a marketing perspective I’d say it was pretty good. Would I ride that on my mtb? Hell no! If I had an emtb would I ride that? Hell yes! (On a sunny day where I could enjoy the view). Does it make me want an emtb? Not really, get back to me when they can do it on a single battery. Am I hyped for my next visit to Scotland? Most definitely!

Enjoyed it! I think we’re going to be in for a really good, tight, competitive season.

The only downside is that now I really want to go to Tasmania, it looks epic

Looking forward to this! You can guarantee that when features manage to look big and scary on film they’re completely mental in the flesh. Should be a good one.

oh yeah, forgot about that one. It was a little tongue in cheek but that is the ebike I want to see, I don’t think I said unlimited but I could be wrong. I basically want a downhill bike that I can turbo around constantly for many many miles. I think it would be brilliant fun.

and jon, you can say or think what you like about me but I assure you that my thanks to you for being so open and honest about such a personal topic are sincere. If I was in your shoes I doubt I would do that.

I have a great many flaws. I’m stubborn, argumentative, contrary and opinionated to name just a few. One thing I’m not is a troll. If I wanted to troll STW I’d start a thread about e bikes, the best way to make avocado on toast or how to fit more log burners in my house.

Thankyou jon for taking the time to explain a little about your perspective on such a personal and difficult subject.

For what it’s worth I’ve listened to a good few interviews from both people who’ve transitioned and detransitioned so I’m not completely ignorant, just mostly! It’s pretty harrowing stuff all round.

If there’s any reading you would recommend I’d be interested to do so.

Unless you want to keep going perhaps we should leave it there for now. I’m well aware how easily topics like these go off the rails and I rather not be the cause.

I’m a little baffled how this is considered controversial.

Perhaps I’m expressing myself poorly tom. I want to live in a time where the only consideration is competence. I don’t care if that’s a privileged white man, disadvantaged black woman or anything else. Merit should be the only metric.

I’m totally ok with adults doing whatever they so wish with their own bodies. My point was I’m not sure a child can fully understand and consent to medical interventions that could have life long consequences.

Tom – Depends what we mean by DEI and trans issues.

If for DEI it means that everyone should have the same opportunities regardless of whether they’re black, white, brown, man, woman, rich, poor or whatever else, that’s completely fine by me and should be encouraged. If it means filling roles and positions based on any of that to fill some kind of diversity quota then definitely not.

For trans again it depends. If we’re teaching them that gender dysphoria is a thing and that trans people deserve compassion and understanding, no problem. If we’re teaching them that men can in fact become women and vice versa then no.

jon – yes it was a cop out answer. I was undecided between 16 and 18 so went with that. On further thought you can legally have sex at 16 and drive at 17, both of which have potential life altering consequences, I’ll go with no medical intervention under the age of 16.

That being said if it was proven that puberty blockers could be taken for a couple of years and then stopped with no negative repercussions then I’d be open to changing my mind. I don’t see how this could be but you probably know vastly more about them than I do.

Thankyou jon, I also hope this could be informative. I feel like I’m walking into a minefield here so I’d like to make clear I have great sympathy for you and your son, the last thing I would want is to make light of your situation, say something hurtful or come across like I know better than you about what is best for your son.

I believe in UK law a child is under 18.

Both you and your son are clearly sure this is the best path forward for him so perhaps starting on puberty blockers early could have really helped.

I think this is where we get into a grey area about what a child can consent to, can a child fully understands the long term implications of medical intervention at a young age?

To give an example I have a friend who’s son had a really difficult time in his teens. He was absolutely adamant for a long time that he was trans. When he got to 17/18 he just kind of grew out of it and is now a happy gay man. These are the children I worry about, he could easily have gone down a different path that would have potentially effected him for life.

To clarify I meant any kind of medical intervention for children. Be that puberty blockers, hormones or surgery.

I’ve been mulling over whether to respond to this because I have a pretty good idea where it’s going to go and I very much doubt it will be informative or productive.

There’s a big difference between equality of opportunity and equality of outcome.

I do not disagree with this.

Strongly against DEI because it divides people into racial groups/gender. The best person should get the job, role or whatever regardless of any of that stuff.

Yes it is I, I’m not trying to be a provocateur. This is what I believe. If you disagree feel free to rip me to shreds.

Thanks for the interesting responses everyone, I’m heartened to hear there’s some good ones out there!

Politics gets weird, it seems like a lot of people treat it like football. You pick a team and support them no matter what.

I could take this further and say I’m politically schizophrenic.

Leftist – I’m strongly in favour of giving a helping hand to those who start out in life in a disadvantaged position (welfare state) and that everyone should have access to healthcare no matter their financial situation (NHS)

Rightist – I’m strongly against mass immigration, DEI, trans stuff in relation to children.

I feel this is a weird position to hold and politically I’m trying to thread the needle but it is what it is.

Amazon has been rubbish for quite a while now, the ad thing was the final straw. Netflix has also been getting worse. I’ve cancelled both and and subscribed to STW instead, saves me money and I get to chat shit to strangers on the internet.

I’ve subscribed and I’m going to have a play around with my phone setting right now. Fingers crossed.

Rates sound reasonable to me

This thread has been great, could easily have stopped after 10 posts but we’re on 10 pages and I hope it goes for another 10.

For what it’s worth as a country boy I quite often carry a knife and it regularly comes in handy. I do struggle to see how it could be justified if living in a town/city. I’m down to my last folding knife that locks open and when I break/lose it I fully intend to buy another from somewhere. I’m fully aware it’s illegal but I don’t care, it annoys me that I should have to risk a knife closing on my fingers because a minority of people feel the need to stab each other.

thanks for the advice everyone, I think I’ll try the membership and a different browser and see if it helps matters

ok, I’ll give some different browsers a try. thankyou

As a proud Englishman I think I should be able to carry a broadsword around in public if I so wish

I love hope brakes they just work, get them bought OP!

Different growers? I don’t understand.

As an example if I press latest reply on a thread I’m following and then try to scroll upwards as there’s been a few posts since I last checked it will constantly scroll me back down to the bottom of it’s own accord. It drives me crackers!

bit rude